Countywide : Drive-By Shooting Convictions Upheld
An appeals court has refused to overturn two Santa Paula gang members’ convictions for their parts in a 1990 drive-by shooting in Ventura.
Arthur Banuelos, 23, and Larry Renteria, 25, had sought to have their seven-year sentences overturned by the 2nd Appellate District Court of Appeals by arguing that testimony implicating them in the May, 1990, shooting was not sufficient to support a conviction.
The intended victim of the attack, Mario Castro of Santa Paula, first refused to cooperate with police out of what he said was a fear of retaliation.
Four days after his first interview, Castro was arrested on other charges by officers from the Ventura Police Department, who recorded two additional interviews without Castro’s permission.
On the recording, Castro said that Banuelos and Renteria--members of a rival gang--were behind the attack.
Although Castro refused to testify during the pair’s November, 1990 trial, the recording proved to be instrumental in convincing jurors that Banuelos and Renteria were guilty, and the pair were given seven-year sentences, the maximum for a drive-by shooting in which no one is injured.
The appellate court disagreed with Banuelos and Renteria’s contention that the taped testimony was insufficient evidence, and the court affirmed their sentences.
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